What happened during World War I?

A:

During World War I, Germany, Austria and the other countries in the Ottoman Empire formed the Central Powers and fought against the Allied Powers, which consisted of Russia, Japan, Great Britain, Italy and France. The war began following the unexpected assassination of Austria's Archduke Ferdinand.

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The First World War involved almost all of the world's significant powers. The United States initially was not involved, but joined the Allied Powers in 1917. The war lasted from 1914 to 1918, and primarily consisted of trench warfare. While the Allied Powers were the victors of the war, significant casualties were seen on both sides. It is estimated that over 9 million soldiers died.

Related Questions

The First World War began on July 28, 1914, when Austria-Hungary formally declared war on Serbia. While tensions had been rising across Europe for many years prior, it was the Serbian assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary on June 28, 1914 that sparked the declaration.

According to firstworldwar.com, dozens of different types of rifles were put into service during World War I. However, many of these weapons had a relatively small distribution. Throughout the course of the war, most of the major armies relied on a handful of trusted rifles made by German, French, British and American manufacturers. These rifles can be divided into long-barrel types and short-barrel carbines.

Although an exact figure is not possible owing to questionable accuracy and destroyed records, approximately 8.5 to 10.8 million soldiers were killed during World War I. Of these deaths, 5.1 to 6.4 million were inflicted on the Allied nations, while 3.3 to 4.3 million were suffered by the Central Powers.

Imperialism contributed to World War I the amount of land that Britain and France owned led to a heightened rivalry with Germany, which sought to acquire colonies later on and only controlled small portions of Africa. Tensions rose during the fight for Africa in the late 1800s, when European powers France, Germany and Britain secured the remains of the continent. During this time, imperial rivalry was present along with powerful nationalism, helping to contribute to prewar tensions throughout Europe.